US initial jobless claims were unchanged in the week ended Sept. 5 from the prior week, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the US Department of Labor.
Total initial jobless claims remained at 884,000 for the week, unchanged from the previous week’s level, which was revised upward by 3,000 from 881,000.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims — which smooths results — fell, by 21,750 to a level of 970,750 from the previous week’s average, which was revised up by 750.
Initial claims dropped the prior week after the government changed the methodology it uses to address seasonal fluctuations in the data, which had become less reliable because of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported. Reuters’ poll of economists had forecast 846,000 applications in the latest week.
“It looks like the trends for both initial and continuing claims filings have flattened out lately after a period with more notable declines,” Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York, told Reuters. “This is broadly consistent with the idea that the labor market recovery has lost momentum lately.”